Heupel’s bad day became a blessing

UCF coach lost his job at Oklahoma but ended up in a better situation

The morning he was fired as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma — his beloved alma mater — may have been one of the worst days of Josh Heupel’s life, but one of the best days of his career.

“Thank God it happened!” Heupel said Thursday as he prepared his high-flying, undefeated, 10th-ranked UCF Knights for Saturday’s conference showdown with Memphis. “It’s worked out great for me. If I had stayed there, I wouldn’t be here.”

Then again, if he had stayed at Oklahoma as offensive coordinator, he might be the head coach of the Sooners today. After all, the guy who replaced him — Lincoln Riley — was named the head coach when the great Bob Stoops stepped down before last season.

Earlier this week, Riley finally fired Mike Stoops — Bob’s brother — as the defensive coordinator of the Sooners. If life were fair, Mike Stoops would have been fired three seasons ago instead of Heupel, but blood is thicker than offensive ingenuity.

There was no way Stoops was going to fire his kid brother after a miserable (by Oklahoma standards) 8-5 season ended with an embarrassing 40-6 loss to Clemson right here in Orlando at the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl. Consequently, Heupel and co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell were scapegoated after the miserable offensive performance in the bowl game against Clemson — the No. 1-ranked defense in the country.

Bob Stoops obviously has his reasons for making the staff changes he did, but the fact is Oklahoma’s offense was ranked No. 23 in the country that year and the defense was ranked 51st. And although Heupel says he is over the disappointment of get-